Winners of the NFpN
awards 2008 were:
partnership of the year
bridging the gap inc for
`ngulla Community nursery'
team Member of the year
Jenny neal, Churches of Christ Care
project of the year
Feros Care ltd for
`northern rivers Primary Palliative Care Project'
Ceo of the year
Anne Wilson, Kidney Health Australia
organisation of the year
Feros Care ltd
Congratulations to our exceptional winners!
to all those who nominated the effort to put
together a nomination shows a commitment
to achieving best practice in the sector, which
demonstrates to us that you too are winners!
We would also like to say a heartfelt thanks
to our panels of judges for their excellent
contribution to this program, volunteering their
time and expertise and their commitment to
improving the program each year. It simply
wouldn't be possible without them!
to learn more about the winners, look out for
interviews with each of them in the magazine
throughout 2008.
tHe iNterVieW
Although the partnership is proving very successful, Colin
explains that it hasn't all been smooth sailing. "Initially the
challenge was to find funding for a Manager and the partnership
agreed to apply for monies under the "Enterprise in the 21st
Century" a federal government initiative to encourage training
of people in an enterprise environment" Colin explained. This
was successful. Other funds were provided by the corporate
partners Peet Ltd and BHP Billiton for stock and infrastructure as
well as by groups requesting training at the facility and through
applications to government.
Colin says that hard work often served as the replacement for
funds. "Initially expertise in marketing plants for sale was slow
but we found that the word of mouth and repeat business has
now given us a situation where we need to say no due to working
at full production capacity with our current staff." Through this
continuing generous support of partners and customers Colin is
hopeful that for the coming financial year, which is their third in
operation, the enterprise will actually produce a surplus.
Besides funding, another major challenge was the partnership
vision. "In the early stages it became apparent that there were
some tensions as each partner focussed solely on their individual
benefit from being involved. To overcome this, we held a
facilitated "Vision Day" at which each partner's vision of the
nursery in 10 years was discussed. From this came a singular goal
that everyone could subscribe to and from that day on tensions
disappeared, " Colin explained. To maintain this harmony, a
steering committee with representatives from each partner meets
bi-monthly to oversee this vision and keep the enterprise on track.
For Colin as well as the others involved in the partnership, the
most rewarding aspects are "to see a vision become a reality" and
to see the "joy in achievement for the young people involved"
as well as the physical contribution in the form of a garden. He
believes that winning the NFPN Partnership of the Year award
has added to this and "given us all a sense of achievement and
recognition for all of those tough days we face."
Importantly, he also believes that for one of their corporate
partners, Peet Ltd , the award has had a further significant impact
as it not only provided a reward for their decision to take a chance
with a community organisation and an indigenous group, but also
a reinforcement of the merit of that decision.
Added to this win for the Ngulla Community Nursery was
also that of the "partnership" award in the national Urban
Development Institute of Australia awards.
"The credibility and proof of being able to achieve our goals in
a partnership has been acknowledged by our winning of these
awards and we are already seeing a boost in interest from the
community and local organisations where we can expand our
impact by building additional relationships," says Colin. Such
heightened community support and involvement and an influx of
offers for extra services allows the enterprise to move ever closer
to its ten year vision of being a venue for meetings, training ,
retail and wholesale plants with a small café and garden area for
community members.
Although Colin asserts that certain challenges will never entirely
go away and sustainability remains a cornerstone issue, he feels
he can now say with confidence that "the Ngulla Community
Nursery is here to stay and will be a significant venue for the
Kwinana and surrounding communities for years to come." n
'
nominations for the
2009 nFpn awards
program open april 21.
let your voice be heard!
Go to www.nfpn.com.
au/events/Awards